


Sentimental Value

by Andraste



Category: Heroes - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-09
Updated: 2007-12-09
Packaged: 2017-10-05 20:55:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andraste/pseuds/Andraste
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three scenes from Bob Bishop's marriage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sentimental Value

**I.**

"What do you mean you're taking her?"

"I'm leaving you to be with Richard, and I'm Elle is coming with me."

If Bob hadn't arrived home from work before midnight – a rare occurrence lately, as the Company's accounts don't run themselves – he wouldn't have caught her here in the hallway with her suitcase and the pram. She's obviously angry, but they're both speaking in a hissing whisper, to avoid waking Elle.

"You're having an affair with our _gardener_?"

Bob is more incredulous than upset about that. He'd feel the same if one of his cars, or any other item he'd bought and paid for, had declared its intention to walk out on him.

Zoe has never expressed any dissatisfaction with their marriage. When he met her, she was working as a waitress and trying to break into acting, but it must have been obvious even to her that her only real asset was her considerable beauty. When Bob asked her to marry him after two weeks acquaintance she showed rare good judgement in accepting him.

It's been a good deal for her – she has every material luxury a woman could want, and Bob has never paid much attention to how she runs her personal life when he's not there. In turn, she stays out of his business. He can't see why she'd want to disrupt their perfect arrangement now that they have a child.

"I love him – I don't expect you to understand that, Bob, but we're going to be happy together. I don't want Elle to be brought up in a house without love."

"You can't seriously believe that I'd let you take her," he says. Elle, barely four months old, is his prize. He would never let anyone separate them.

Zoe actually has the nerve to laugh at that. "As if you care one way or the other, Bob."

That's what makes him angry enough to lose control. When she reaches for the pram, he only grabs her arm. It's only to stop her taking Elle, but without his conscious intention the skin under his fingers starts to turn to gold.

The transmutation is agonizingly slow, and for a moment Zoe keeps moving. She opens her mouth to speak, but Bob never finds out what her last words would have been. The metal wave creeps up her throat and freezes her in place before she can say them.

While he's still staring at what he's done, sick to his stomach with horror, Elle wakes up and starts to cry. Bob looks down at her for long minutes while she wriggles and complains.

At first he's too terrified to pick her up, but he breathes deeply and the moment passes. He could never hurt his precious girl. When he lifts her out of the pram, he finds that she's bawling because she's wet.

He has to take her upstairs to change her, and flips on the light switch so he doesn't risk tripping on the stairs. The rest of the house is completely dark; he assumes Zoe sent the nanny away. He'll have to hire a new one who won't ask too many questions.

While he changes the baby, Bob plans what to do next. Money buys removalists at any hour of the night, and if they wonder how he got a life-sized gold statue of a woman holding a suitcase in here in the first place, money also buys a lot of discretion.

**II.**

Bob is not sure if he can trust Daniel Linderman with the truth or not. However, he's smart enough to know that Maury Parkman is bound to find out what happened sooner or later. Zoe has been on his mind far more in the weeks since her accident, and he can't avoid the telepath forever.

It's better to come clean now than to get caught out, so he takes Linderman to the warehouse where he's keeping her, along with some Greek statuary and other art treasures. He learned early on to turn gold into other assets as quickly as possible, and she fits in quite well with the rest of the stock.

"Oh dear," Linderman says when he sees her, "Mrs. Bishop. How unfortunate"

"It was an accident," Bob says. "I knew I could transform organic matter, but, well ..." Bob shrugs. "I never thought of doing _that_."

Linderman looks at the suitcase in her hand with a raised eyebrow, but says nothing. None of his colleagues seemed surprised when he told them his wife had left him for the gardener, but they do say the husband is always the last to know.

The healer closes his eyes and lays a hand against Zoe's cheek, but after a moment he shakes his head.

"I'm sorry," he says. "There's nothing left for me to work with."

Bob nods. It's what he expected to hear, but he had to try.

"You know, it would make sense to get rid of the evidence," Linderman says.

He's completely right, and yet Bob is reluctant to rush it. "Not yet," he says. "She's safe enough here."

Nobody except Richard has asked questions about Zoe's whereabouts, and Bob simply told him that she'd run off with the chef instead. The gardener didn't seem to find that very hard to believe.

Linderman nods. "You're responsible for our assets," he says, looking at Zoe with a thoughtful expression. "You know, this could be a useful tactic in future, if you find yourself in a tight spot. Our business is not a safe one."

Bob shudders internally. "I don't think so."

They shut the door on the warehouse, and while Bob thinks of Zoe often, he doesn't visit again.

**III.**

When Elle is sixteen, she slips away from her handlers on a routine training exercise and ends up crashing a stolen speedboat into a pier on the Hudson River. After he's disposed of the incompetent employees and finished reprimanding his wayward daughter, Bob is faced with the question of paying for the boat and the repairs to the pier.

"The Company will have no trouble covering the damages," Thompson says. "After all the resources you've provided us with, it's the least we can do."

"No," Bob says, "I'll pay for this myself. I have certain personal assets I need to liquidate anyway." He has infinite bank accounts and stocks, but there's something else he has in mind for this.

Thompson nods. "Well, if you're happy to do that." As if this was more than a symbolic offer to a man who creates pure wealth with a touch of his hand. "Just be sure not to let Elle wreck any more boats."

Bob hasn't opened this particular storage facility in years. When he sees Zoe, he's amazed by how young she is, and how much like Elle she looks. He's always known that she inherited her mother's looks and her father's brains. This is a blessing, even if it does make her a challenge do deal with sometimes.

Bob brushes the dust off of her carefully, wondering exactly how much she weighs and estimating value. Certainly more than enough to pay for a speedboat, and it's appropriate in a way. He's sure that Elle got her impulsiveness from Zoe, too.

He has the men take her to a discreet Company facility where she will be melted down without inquiry. Bob knows it was silly of him to keep her around for so long – these days, if he needs to be reminded of his mistakes, he only has to look at Elle. He's finally ready to let Zoe go.


End file.
